I Won't Quote

You know the feeling when you want to go and have lunch outside, you go to a cafe and just take the lunch offer? Well, I don't.

Until yesterday.

I got an opportunity to go out to eat and take my friend with me, so we went to vegan cafe called SIIN (siin means "here" in english). And it was so good to just go there and not worry if the food is okay for me. Because all the daily meals are 100% vegan and they are normal, homemade food.

There are some places near my work, that offer vegetarian food. And for some odd reason it is always fried cheese, pureed soup with cheese and other kinds of stuff with cheese. It really seems that they can't come up with anything else. :D They think that ok, at least it is not meat, so it's fine. So I gave up going for a lunch out while I am working.

Yesterday I also had university entrance exam (which didn't go too well, because what the hell were these questions?), but I took a day off from work to relieve some of the stress at least. And I had exactly enough time for lunch between the exam and interview.

I have lunch - always. But in general it is quite small, so this caused me a lot of guilt. What were we offered? Oh yes - soya mince sauce with potatoes or buckwheat, fresh salad and some bread. It was EXACTLY the kind of normal lunch I aim for! I had to tell myself over and over again that normal people eat this food all the time. :D

Anyway, the food was amazing. Simple and tasty. It didn't have too much salt or too many other seasoning, it was just, well, good. Again I wondered why I don't make something similar at home more often. :D But yeah, it was nice to have a homemade meal without having to put any effort in. Just walk in and you are being served. :D

We went at around 12, the food had just gotten ready. The place itself as well was really sweet and cosy, I really liked that you could sit by the window and look out on the street. We talked to my friend about this always being our favourite spot.

It started raining so much exactly when I headed to the cafe. I dropped by a store to get myself a raincoat, as I didn't have an umbrella on me. :D Anyway, it was really nice to sit inside, look at the storm and dark skies and enjoy good food and nice compay. Ah, they also sold a lot of the products in the store from this website: paradisefoods . My bag was full of stuff at that point and I couldn't get anything unfortunately. :D But yeah, they had some stuff I have never tried before. 

They are open every day now as well, even during the weekend. And you can also order food from there via Bolt food or Wolt. I think I am going to order lunch sometimes from there, because honestly, it is such a soul food.

Then at first I thought that I was not going to have the bread, but it was so nice and fresh and soft that I had to eat it, haha. :D Perfect with this simple meal, even though I don't usually have bread with my lunches or dinners, I have bad memories from the hospital. :D But doing this now is the only thing that helps me get better.

Also every time after your meal you get a vegan chocolate candy as well, it is perfect to finish the meal, as I have always said I need at least ONE bite of something sweet. :D And this also gave my brain some energy, because I had to go back to the uni to take the interview. Also, we had cappuccino and it was amazing, I had only had one coffee that day and usually I would have had three by this time already.

Anyway I really recommend this place! And again, I really loved that I could take the lunch offer, without having to think if it is okay for me. Just went in and got food. :D Also the portion size was quite good, I liked that they also offer a small plate as well. In some places they only have one size, even though I think this has started to change slowly. But anyway, I was happy with this. :)

I think my interview at the university was a bit better than the test, but I can't say for sure. I knew that I was prepared, but the questions they asked were just awful. For example "what did this philosopher say to that lawyer" etc.... I thought they were going to ask questions I really needed to know in working at law. :D Some questions were easier as well, but I am quite unsure. But well, if I can't get in, then the world is not going to end, I can try again next year, as at least I know what to expect (if they don't change it, that is). So at the moment I am just hoping it goes well, but I am prepared for the negative answer as well. I should get the results soon (ALSO I AM BEHIND IN TRANSLATING MY POSTS, I DID GET IN!)

It was really funny to sit at the university, in the class. I graduated from Bachelor's in 2016, so it has been a long time since I was at school. I kind of do miss it, doing something. This is why I am thinking it would be nice to get into studying again - it would be something to aim for and I finally feel that I have enough energy for this.

Yesterday, when I got home, I thought about going to the gym, because today I am going to my parents' place, but I left it there and just rested at home. I did drop by a shopping center and got a new pair of jeans though. I have a lot of pants, but they all are a bit too tight and bring me negative emotions, so finally I can throw them out and wear new ones. The pants I got are really quite nice, light blue, perfect for summer.

There has been a lot of eating out recently. For example on Tuesday I went to Vabrik and also at Jahu restaurant. This does kind of make me stressed, but it is good as well, to get out of my comfort zone. For example today I don't really feel bad at all, I just remember good things from Tuesday. As I tell myself quite often: feel shit, but do it anyway, because there is not progress if you don't.

Yesterday evening I also really wanted to skip dinner, but I didn't do it. I had curd cream with strawberries, raspberries, mango and Lizi's granola my friend got me to relieve my exam stress. And it is really good, I just snack on it randomly. :D Tasty as hell! I have kind of gotten over my cereal addiction and moved on to muesli/granola.

And this bowl I made was really good. Last time I had something similar, I whinged on the blog, saying I wasted calories, haha. :D So it was nice to repeat the challenge and show myself that this was good this time. :D

And now today after work I am going to Viljandi. My grandma turned 80 in the spring, but due to corona she didn't have a party, now she is finally doing it outside. My task is to bake two really big kringels - one sweet and one savoury. I think I can do it. :D I really love cookings, especialyl for others. xD When I went to SIIN cafe I thought that oh man, I want to own a cafe as well, it would be so cool to make a menu and cook and so on. So if my lay career fails at one point, I know what I want to do. :D

Lately I have had so many "accidentally vegan" days and honestly I feel really good. :) I have a habit tracker on my bullet journal and I always mark down when I have a vegan day and in July there was a lot. Even though it is the beginning of the month only! But I haven't tried too many vegan products this month, I hope to get better at it. I just need to put my mind to this.

Where else should I go and eat in Tallinn?

What is your favourite food you would like to make in vegan version?

If you had to cook me ONE meal, what would you make? :D

Saturday

On Saturday the concertst started quite earlt - at 15:30 already. Before those, I went to the town to pop by my favourite coffee vagon, Roots coffee bar. During the corona quarantine, they had a really cool "coffee window" where me and my friend went several times (basically you ordered through a window and they sent your coffee down in a basket). Anyway, really cool people, good coffee and cool idea.

After that, I went to Telliskivi again and decided to go to F-Hoone, where there were performances by LAGI records company, who base on rap and hip hop.

Firstly it was time for Apollo, who I don't even know what to say about. I quite liked it, even though the words were... quite boring to be honest. It wasn't anything specail. It kind of reminded me some Norwegian artists, which was a big plus, because I am a fan. Especially Norwegian hip hop and rap. The artist seemed like a nice person and I was sad there wasn't more people listening to him.

In general I thought that the weaker artists were more during the day and that they will get better as time goes by, but it was the opposite. :'D I hope I am not too strict, but this is how I felt.

Next it was time for Kriipsu-Uku, whose words I just didn't understand. But they said that the music tracks are also made by him, which was cool. He had a nice style. When I interviewed Tommy Tee a few years ago, he said that the beat is the most important thing when creating a song and Kriipsu-Uku had done this. I don't know what else to say about him.

Next it was turn of NEO, who I don't even remember. I guess he was similar to the others, meaning nothing special. At this point I also felt that I was too tired of listening to the same kind of stuff, I didn't even stand up to listen to the artists, not to mention taking pictures. I thought of moving somewhere else, but there weren't any other concerts at that point yet. So I stuck around. After him it was turn of Manna, who I really did want to see.

Manna was good. If there wasn't her performance, I would have been really disappointed in this day. It was really nice to see a female artist. Her presence, songs and everything was different and fresh. Finally I gathered enough strength to stand up and jam along! I think we will hear about her in the future. She is worth it.

Then it was väike kelder's turn, where they had a lot of memebers but what was quite terrible. :D I am really sorry, please forgive me! One song was acceptable, but in general it felt as if they really missed the tone? I mean, it was as if they were yelling along to a song in a club. This wasn't enjoyable. I think they have a lot of room to grow and get better. But this one song shows that at least they COULD do something better as well.

And finally I listened to the Kaw, but I really couldn't do more than him. His songs were just okay, I can't bring out anything specific. Anyway in general all of the artists mashed together in my head and I think it was just too much too fast. But in general, this day wasn't too bad either. It will be interesting to see where they go from here, definitely. At one point I am sure we will hear about them.

Anyway, I recommend checking out Manna and give a chance to Apollo. Regarding others, I am a bit doubtful, but they can prove me wrong.

Then for the last concert I picked Mari Kalkun, and she was awesome. It started to rain, but this didn't ruin the experience. She is really different and enjoyable and it was really good to listen to her, a change from all this hip hop and rap. This is very Estonian and simple. Exciting.

Unfortunately I didn't go and see anyone else after her, because I was cold and tired and I was so tired. Tallinn Music Week definitely wasn't what it was in 2018.

Like in general I expected a lot more artists or names that I had heard before. This year wasn't so good. There weren't many "main" events, there was no vibe of 2018. So I would say that the level has gone down. But at the same time I understand this - it was supposed to happen in spring and a lot of artists couldn't come due to corona. So I guess they still did their best. But I am sure that there is room for progress.

I really hope I get a chance to participate more events like this and share my thoughts. I really would like if people read this, lived it with me and enjoy it. I want only good things to happen to all of the performers, I want them to get what they deserve. I want to share a positive message and be happy with them.

Anyway, I wrote down quite a list of artists I would like to listen to in the future!

Today's post is a little different, as I was press representative at Tallinn Music Week.

Thursday

TMW hit it off on Thursday, 27.08. At first it was supposed to happen in March-April, but due to corona it was postponed. I can totally understand this. At the same time I am really sad that a lot of the foreigh artists couldn't come even now, because they set this 2 week quarantine norm again. So mostly it was all about Estonian artists, with some odd ones out (for example Latvian, Finnish, Norwegian and I think one Hungarian).

Firstly on Thursday I attended Carnival Youth's concert, who performed at Telliskivi Creative City in an open air. We were lucky with the weather - it was a bit chilly, but it was clear and not rainy at least. This would have been awful. What can I say about them though... it was a nice band. It was a bit weird that I enjoyed some songs a lot, but didn't care at all about the others. They had a lot of different things going on. At the same time I think it is positive, because everyone can find something they like. But I don't think I have come across a lot of bands whose songs I really like and dislike at the same time. Anyway, it was a good start to the festival.

Next, it was INGER's performance, who had quite decent songs. I saw her on Estonian TV, but I didn't know much of her. This was nice, chill music. I really liked some of the songs a lot, while others just left me with no particular emotion. Also, there were quite a few people listening, which was sad, but also good - with the corona and all. Anyway, Inger was really sweet, she seemed a bit stressed and nervous, but this made her very charming and warm.

At one point I decided to move on and went to Fotografiska to listen to Puuluup. And this was a huge surprise! I haven't heard anything as interesting and different in a long while, I highly recommend you to check them out. People were living for it, they were dancing and everyone were completely obsessed. Neozombiepostfolk is indeed a word to describe them. I would really love to just attend their solo concert, if I happened to come across one. I am really glad for them!

In addition to these concerts, I wanted to see what Kadri Voorand was all about, but... it wasn't something I enjoyed at all. I can't even describe it - maybe in some different context I would like it (like when I had dinner at a restaurant and she was playing live?), but on this evening it wasn't anything special to be honest. Of course her music has something that is beautiful and likable, but I don't know, maybe I was too tired already or had listened to way too much music already, but this just didn't sit well with me. :D

I randomly talked to one music producer from Italy, who really liked Estonia and who was really excited he happened to be here during Tallinn Music Week. We talked about how sad it is that most people can't earn a living working only with music. A lot of the journalists and producers and artists have a different job on the side. Like this Italian guy worked as a lawyer during the day.

I am not a person who would really start talking to strangers, but this was an interesting chat. At first he approached me to compliment my mask (I got one, because I thought that even if it doesn't help, it adds the feeling of security and maybe people won't actually bump into me when they see this) and then we got talking. These kind of chats are ALWAYS super interesting and I would love to talk to more people like him.